If there remains to be any doubt that Saint Matthew's Cathedral has been shaped by its community, I would recommend a visit to the archive room within the parish. Considering the various group options our class was presented with when it came to the service learning project, I found myself absolutely intrigued with the idea of being able to sort through the church's archives.

It is no secret to those who know me that I am quite the history nerd. However, I had no idea that there would be so many documents available at my fingers, especially after the fire of 1860 that destroyed all church belongings and records that had been previously obtained by Saint Matthew's Cathedral.

After spending a significant amount of time in the archive room over the course of several weeks, I can honestly say that the entire experience has been extremely rewarding - a fact that was confirmed last Thursday when our class made a presentation to the congregation of Saint Matthew's.

There is still so much that I haven't even come close to uncovering, and although the information is endless, I feel as if I have learned so much about the history of the parish. To anyone who is interested in the archive room, I would highly suggest a visit; it will be worth your while.

Hopefully the work that myself and my group members have already accomplished has established a foundation that can be built upon as time goes on. There is still so much that can be learned from the documents within the walls of the archive room.

5100 Ross Ave. - it is amazing how much history one address can contain. Here, in Dallas, that address houses everything from the records of a first lady's education and Tiffany's finest stained glass to the records of English language-learners and Latino cultural festivals.

My work at St. Matthew's focused on investigating the contemporary parish. In this one parish, we found much more diversity than its exterior monolith intended. We discovered that this East Dallas parish housed two very distinct communities, divided by language and culture.

Time and time again, I return to the images present in the cathedral's sanctuary. On one side is a print of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and on the other side is a stained-glass portrait of St. Alban. These two icons are the veritable representatives of their patrons. They converse, interact and co-exist, yet they are not one. So, too, the Spanish-speaking and English-speaking groups converse, interact and co-exist. Nonetheless, they are not one, undivided body.

Growing to understand and appreciate the complexities of St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral has enlivened my perspective on religion. Investigating a religious community in Dallas has incarnated the concepts of the classroom into a more complex, nuanced reality. In short, studying St. Matthew's has amplified my perspective of Dallas, Latino religions and of religion in general.

Through our service learning at St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral, we have had the opportunity to interact with the parishioners and learn more about who these people are, their culture and their devotion to this cathedral. We extend an invitation to everyone to come and participate in our presentation on Thursday!

The Spanish-speaking community at St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral today is made up in part of residents who have lived in the surrounding area for many years. Others are people who in recent years have immigrated from other areas such as Mexico and Central and South America. In addition, these are mainly middle-class people who consider St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral a place where they can congregate to worship God and participate in social events that bring them closer as a community.

According to Father Tony, the Spanish-speaking congregation attend St. Matthew's because they feel represented in this place. The congregation feels that whatever their needs may be, they will be addressed, and to a high degree they will be taken care of.

Moreover, Father Tony stated that it is precisely attending to the congregation's needs that is the most important task for the cathedral. This is one of the reasons people attend St. Matthew's; people respond positively when they feel that their voices are heard and their concerns addressed. This is also the reason parishioners commute from different regions of the city, such as Mesquite, Garland and other areas.

Through conducting interviews with the parishioners, we have learned that many Catholics attend the Spanish service at St. Matthew's. Some parishioners have stated that they find very little or no difference between an Episcopal and the Catholic service due to the fact that both religions have the same Roman Catholic roots. These two religions share the same sacraments and rituals. One small difference is the order in which the service unfolds.

Due to the fact that a large percentage of Spanish-speaking parishioners are from Mexico and from a Catholic religious background, St. Matthew's has introduced two images of La Virgen de Guadalupe since 1984. According to Father Tony, the Episcopal church recognizes the virgin Mary as the mother of God. In addition, those from Mexican feel represented by these images, which gives parishioners a feeling of loyalty toward St. Matthew's.

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http://blog.smu.edu/StudentAdventures/2010/11/an_update_from_robert_a.htmlReligious Studies Fall2010Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:20:18 -0600Putting it all togetherAn update from Mary, a senior Latin American studies major and a dance minor:

As the semester is coming to an end with only a few weeks left, our class is beginning to come together and share all that we have learned about St. Matthew's history and more. Last week we faced the daunting task of coming up with a thesis that incorporates all of our areas of research to present to the community at St. Matthew's.

After an hour and a half of debate, we decided upon: "In response to changing borders at and around 5100 Ross Avenue, the parishioners, community, and institution of St. Matthew's Cathedral have made various efforts to cultivate a vital faith community." Now, each of the three research groups will gather their information and write about 10 to 15 pages describing what they have found with this thesis in mind. We will then combine all of them to present a final paper.

On Thursday, December 2, we have the opportunity to present and discuss with the community of St. Matthew's all that we have discovered. It will be an exciting evening to finally come together and meet the community as a whole! This entire service-learning experience has been truly wonderful. Though difficult at times, I have learned more than I imagined through interacting with the Dallas community and my fellow classmates.

Despite the seemingly daunting task the archivist group had ahead of them, these past few visits to the archives at St. Matthew's Cathedral have truly been eye-opening.

Most recently, our class has discussed the use of history, what history does, and how people make use of their own history. Overwhelmed at first by the large amounts of artifacts, our group has benefited from the fact that these individuals kept everything. The newspaper articles, photographs, school records and much more have provided us with a perfect backdrop of the history of this Cathedral and its students and parishioners.

Upon my most recent visit, I found an interesting newspaper article from 1960. This article spoke of Bishop Benito Cabanban, the first Filipino to be consecrated a bishop of the Church. He came to Dallas to speak at a missionary Mass meeting held at the field house of Southern Methodist University. This gathering allowed bishops to meet and hear from other missionary bishops from around the world. Bishop Cabanban's story is only one of the numerous groundbreaking firsts at St. Matthew's Cathedral.

As the semester comes to a close, my hopes for the archive group are to continue to uncover many more remarkable documents and to help write a new chapter in the history of this Cathedral.

When selecting a group for this project, I chose the context team because of my fairly strong background in academic research. I figured the experience would be similar to past efforts: looking through articles, reading books and finding websites, all to get an objective view of history. The experience, however, has gone far beyond this.

Researching for this class has become an exciting, intriguing and captivating experience. I almost feel like a detective, utilizing the Dallas Morning News archives and other historical sources as windows to the past that we used to solve years-old mysteries.

For example, through these resources we have been able to uncover how Ross Avenue got its name, which of the Dallas Divas of the past attended St. Mary's College, why the school shut its doors in the early 1930s, and why St. Matthew's moved to that campus. In the process, we gained some insight into how Dallas became what it is today.

From our research, we have been able to build a bridge between the past and the present and help St. Matthew's understand the catalyst for the changes taking place within its Parish. In doing so, luckily we, too, have become a part of the fascinating story of 5100 Ross Avenue.

Researching St. Matthew's Cathedral has been an eye-opening experience for me. As a member of the "context" group, it has been our job to research what has been occurring around St. Matthew's and the broader scope of Dallas throughout the church's history.

Initially, I had not given much thought to the history of Dallas at all. I assumed that it was a city that had been a certain way for many years and would continue to remain that way. The research we completed proved my initial assumptions to be completely wrong and showed that the history of St. Matthew's is a reflection of the broader region in which it is located.

For example, I was very surprised when our research revealed that the portion of Ross Avenue where St. Matthew's is located was once considered to be the Beverly Hills of Dallas, which explains the small number of white parishoners that belong to St. Matthew's. As a result, I have a better understanding of Dallas and St. Matthew's itself.

I have always thought that the classroom was the ideal environment for learning, probably because I have spent 17 years in a classroom. Thankfully, this service project has shown me every place, every person, every situation can be a wonderful opportunity to learn.

I have attended services in English and Spanish at St. Matthew's Cathedral, and I had made my own observations, but nothing could compare to the experience of talking to the Spanish-speaking parishioners within the Episcopal church. It's not every day that I can sit down with complete strangers and ask them personal questions about their faith and their lives. They all looked to their parish as a place to call home, a place to be comfortable and find a sense of community - something I think we all strive for. It was humbling to listen to others tell their story.

Textbooks and class discussions in the classroom set a distance inbetween the learner and knowledge, but the service project has made knoweldge a very personal experience for me.

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http://blog.smu.edu/StudentAdventures/2010/11/new_opportunities_for_learning.htmlReligious Studies Fall2010Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:20:52 -0600Sitting in on English classAn update from Ashleigh, a senior business management major, with minors in biology and chemistry:

When I enrolled in Latino Religions last spring, I somehow overlooked that it was a service-learning course. Upon finding this out on the first day of class, I was surprised. I did not know what to expect, but I knew the course would be different from any others I had taken. After spending some time participating in service learning at St. Matthew's Cathedral and Pre GED School, I knew that the course has presented me with a wonderful opportunity.

Just this morning, I had the opportunity to attend an ESL class at Pre GED School. Before class began, I chatted with the students, mostly stay-at-home mothers. Everyone was very welcoming, and they all seemed excited to start the day's lesson. A few minutes later, Kathy, their teacher, began class, encouraging everyone to speak in English for the rest of the morning. Some students seemed nervous and hesitant, but they all participated in class discussions despite these feelings.

I admired their courage as they read the paragraphs they had prepared in front of the class. I admired their willingness to help each other understand challenging concepts. I admired their thirst for learning.

Around 10 this morning, I had to leave Pre GED School and head back to SMU. After saying goodbye to Kathy and her students, I was sure of one thing: Through activities like this ESL class, St. Matthew's Cathedral and Pre GED School are passionately serving the members of our community. Fortunately, service learning has allowed me to be a part of this.

You can't really know where you come from unless you study your history. One way to do this is to literally look through years and years of records; and, I am doing just that as part of the service learning aspect of my cultural formation class.

My group - the Archivists, as we like to call ourselves - is processing and preserving almost 100 years of records for Saint Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral in Dallas, with the intent of using these valuable documents to justify a petition for a historical marker for the building. The task at first appeared daunting. We walked into a room about the size of a large closet that seemed to have no semblance of organization.

But in just my last trip to the archives, I was able to organize almost 50 years of school records for Saint Mary's College, the predecessor to the now legendary Hockaday School, and "discover" records for a school of music that Saint Matthew's ran that my contact at Saint Matthew's didn't realize existed.

Through the entire process, the lingering questions in my mind have not been limited to, "Who were these people? And what have they gone on to accomplish?" My questions also include, "In what way did Saint Matthew's as an institution aid and interact with its pupils and parishioners?" - because one of the ongoing discussions in my class is just that: What is the relationship between individuals, community, institutions and identities?

Wow! Dallas is fascinating place, whether you know it or not. I signed on to this service-learning project as part of the background research team - we dig up the facts that fit the archival pieces together. In doing this research, my group is not just connecting the dots for St. Matthew's; we're finding out a lot just for ourselves!

The Dallas landscape was really different in the 1890s when our city really started to grow. Ross Avenue was the Beverly Drive of today and St. Mary's was the Hockaday! Interesting stuff, truly. East Dallas, where the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas (that you know as St. Matthew's Cathedral) sits, used to be the hot spot! The story of its decline is a drama as exciting as they come. I've even used our research to make interesting conversations at parties!

All in all, our research is well on its way to providing a nice framework to hang the rest of the teams' research on. We're really adding to St. Matthew's and the Pre-GED school's body of knowledge, I hope, and having some fun while doing it. From what I hear from some kids in our class, the next thing I need to do is get myself over to the church and attend a service!

I was prepared to learn the history of religion; I was not prepared to write the history myself; however, that is what my class is doing. We are becoming historians and taking an active role in our class rather than just reading about it.

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church is full of history, life, and compassion, and that is why we are honored to take on this task. Through my observation of the present congregation, I have learned a lot about how this church is giving back to the community and neighborhood. The church officials are always willing to listen to their parishioners, help parents with their children during Mass, and help immigrants pass their GED test.

Pre-GED school has really made me think about how we can help improve the lives of others. The organization that is run by volunteers is helping immigrants, mostly Hispanic women, get fluent enough in English to pass their GED test. With the help of this organization, these students can go on to college, help their children with their homework, and find better jobs. This is not ESL school; this goes further, just like people should go. The school needs more volunteers, more funding, and a better way to reach the people who require their help.

Our goal is to help with that and turn people's attention to a better Pre-GED School. In return, we have the gratification of knowing we, too, are helping the Dallas community and making the city a better place.

I'm thrilled to see how this organization will spread and how this all plays into the history of St. Matthew's.

As part of our ongoing service learning with St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral, our class has been afforded the privilege of sifting through the church's archives. These dusty rooms are home to a wealth of fascinating details about the church's history. The archives hold a range of information, from decades of marriage records to old 8x10 photographs of St. Matthew's and Dallas in the 1930s and '40s.

We have been tasked with beginning the important process of preserving these documents, photos and objects using proper archival methods and materials. The documents include church ledgers, academic marks received by students that attended St. Mary's Episcopal College, old newsletters and relevant newspaper clippings.

As we work on organizing and preserving the history of the parish, we will use the documents and photos to help us better understand the progression of St. Matthew's over time. The knowledge we glean from examining these records helps us understand the parish, and it aids our ongoing work with the parishioners. Using the archives, personal interviews and contextual information about Dallas during the past several decades, our final presentation in December to St. Matthew's is bound to be a charged and exciting event for all involved.

This service learning experience has already been deeply gratifying. Translating our reading and class discussion into tangible hands-on experiences has greatly enriched my appreciation of the course content and has allowed me to see and participate in a part of the Dallas community that I never would have on my own.

Service learning at St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral has been the perfect way to see our course material in living color. The history of the Cathedral is a fascinating story. The institution has evolved over time from a prestigious girls school with alum such as former first lady Lady Bird Johnson, to an upper-class Episcopal cathedral, to a mixed congregation with a large, emerging Latino population.

As scholars, our endeavor is to examine and make sense of this transformation. This has given me the opportunity to have a few unique experiences. I have attended Zumba classes that are offered on Tuesday and Thursday nights. This ministry is a fun way to get the parishioners to stay fit while dancing to Latin beats and doing traditional Latino dances such as the cumbia, salsa, and rumba.

I also attended a Spanish Women's Bible Study led by the Rev. Betty Barrios. As a Roman Catholic, I was a little taken aback upon seeing a woman in a priest collar for the first time. Rev. Barrios was very welcoming after I explained our project and a little bit about what we are researching and why we were doing it.

Barrios proceeded to give me a brief history of the church in respect to the emergence of the Latino congregation. She explained that the Spanish-speaking congregation began with only six parishioners. She said the Spanish Mass began nearly 30 years ago in the early '80s and has since grown to a congregation of about 300 parishioners.

A very interesting fact that I took note of was that the church does joint mission trips to Peru in which both the English- and Spanish-speaking parishioners partake. That is to say, the congregations are not only interacting with each other and utilizing the same space, but they also are uniting to do service projects and mission trips. This mixed congregation has given the church a new face and a new identity.

I am thoroughly excited for the surprises, interactions, and experiences that are still to come at St. Matthew's.